The Ancient Settlements at Harlyn Bay
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Ancient Settlements at Harlyn Bay BY O. G. S. CRAWFORD, B.A., F.S.A. HARLYN BAY is situated about the middle of the north coast of Cornwall, near Trevose Head, on the west of the estuary of the Camel, about four miles from Padstow. A number of discoveries of great archaeological importance have been made there and in the neighbouring bay of Constantine on the west; but so far no critical summary of the whole evidence in the light of recent knowledge has been attempted. The fullest account is that by the late Rev. R. Ashington Bullen (3rd edition, published at Harlyn Bay by Colonel Bellers in 19121). The site is one of considerable interest to the geologist as well as the archaeologist; and the scenery is very beautiful. The discoveries will be described in the following order : 1. The cemetery and midden at Harlyn Bay. 2. The midden on Constantine Island and on the adjacent mainland. 3. The midden and medieval remains near Constantine Church. 4. The barrows on the cliffs between Harlyn Bay and Mother Ivey's Bay. 1. The Cemetery and Midden at Harlyn Bay The cemetery was found in levelling the ground for building a house in 190c. The graves consisted of rectangular excavations in the ground, the sides being lined with upright slate slabs. They were covered with other slabs, sometimes inclined at an angle of 45° (but this is probably due to accidental slipping). The arrangement of the graves was fairly regular, and they were orientated to the present magnetic north. The bodies were buried in a crouched position, lying on the side with the knees bent up. No whole pots appear to have been buried with them, but bronze and iron pins were found in 3 number of cases. It is probable that many of the rings and pins were used together as a kind of brooch, to fasten the dress at the shoulder. The earliest possible date of the cemetery is fixed by the discovery in and around the graves of potsherds with incised geometric decoration, of the same Late Celtic type as occurs in the Glastonbury lake-village. 1 References in this aiticle are to this guide-book when not otherwise specified. 284 THE ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL Unfortunately no record seems to have been kept—or at any rate published—of the exact contents of each grave or of the circum- stances in which the potsherds were found. The nearest parallel to these cist-graves is that discovered about the same time at Sheepwash, near Freshwater in the Isle of Wight.1 The date of this slightly larger and more massive cist was fixed by the discovery in it of a two-handled vessel of Late Celtic type. Burials of any kind belonging to this period are very rare in the south and south-west of England. The age of the cemetery is also indicated by the presence in some of the graves of ring-headed pins of bronze and iron. One, of bronze, was found 28th September 1909, and is of the swan-neck type. A bronze ring was also found. A similar pin, but with a shorter shaft, was found in the Taunton hoard,2 with socketed celts, sickles, a tanged razor, and other objects of the Late Bronze Age. The presence here of similar pins in bronze and iron shows that the cemetery cannot be earlier than the transitional period between the Bronze and Iron Ages. But it is probable that in Cornwall, as in the similar region of Brittany, the firmly-rooted Bronze Age culture lasted on much longer than elsewhere. The use of bronze implements probably continued in both regions far into the Hallstatt and La Tene periods, and possibly in Cornwall down to Roman times.3 That was the natural result of the presence of copper and tin ores in both. Dechelette drew attention to the almost complete absence of pre- historic iron objects in Brittany and the Cotentin, and contrasted it with the great abundance of bronze implements found (see his maps). The cemetery at Harlyn Bay certainly belongs to the date 400-150 B.C, and probably falls within the latter portion of this period. A similar date is suggested by two bronze brooches from Harlyn Bay, described in Proc. Soc. Ant., xxi, 372-4 and fig. on p. 373. 'The brooches are not of British type. Their nearest analogues are found in the Iberian peninsula . and may be referred to a time when the Hallstatt models were being circulated over Europe and being modified locally. The cross-bow type is actually found at Hallstatt (Brit. Mus. Iron Age Guide, fig. 28, no. 5). The interments in which tnese brooches were found date probably from the third century B.C.' In passing, the evidence of trade-route relations with Spain may be noted; it will be referred to again later in this paper. 1 Proc. Soc. Ant., xxv, 189-92. 2 Evans, Bronze, p. 367, fig. 451. 3 See Borlase. Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 26'5. ANCIENT SETTLEMENTS AT HARLYN BAY 285 Though the evidence points definitely to the Iron Age, further and more systematic excavation is desirable to settle this point. About 130 graves are said to have been discovered, and the site is probably by no means exhausted. There are indications of other cemeteries on the north coast of Cornwall which are still practically untouched. Thecephalic index of eleven of the skullsmeasuredbyDr.Haddon *. x x 'Limifc cfarea covered by sand-dunes ~.*-~ LOOJ water-mark of ordinary tides y.\\\. Sand (elsewhere ' ' ' ' the jhore is rocky] FIG. 1. Map of Harlyn Bay and neighbourhood. ranges from 70 to 82-22, five of these are dolichocephalic, five mesocephalic, and one brachycephalic. That of four others lies between 72-9 and 76-7.' Dr. Beddoe concluded that the average stature of the men was 5 ft. 4-5 in., and of the women 5 ft. 1-5 in. Mr. R. W. Hooley points out that this average stature agrees with that of the Romano-British skeletons found by Pitt-Rivers at Woodyates. The graves appear to have been dug from an ancient land- surface, now buried under blown sand to a depth of 12 ft., and 1 Dr. Haddon also examined two skulls from Constantine Church and one from ' Constantine', presumably the island or adjacent midden on the mainland. 286 THE ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL apparently the remnant of a ' raised beach', for it is described in the diagram on p. 48 of the guide-book as consisting of 'dark sand ' (in contrast with the bright yellow sand of subaerial origin). The raised beach at Constantine Bay has the same appearance, and probably underlies the recent blown sand everywhere across the isthmus. It is difficult to decide anything about the midden near the cemetery owing to the absence of any plans or accurately measured sections in the report. It appears certain, however, that the blown sand had not overwhelmed the site when the cemetery was formed. 2. Constantine Island and the midden on the mainland opposite Constantine Island lies at the northern end of Constantine Bay, and is separated from the mainland at high tide by a few yards only of shallow water. The whole island lies between high and low watermark, and at low tide the western or seaward end is left some distance away from the sea. It is about 40 yards long by 15 or 20 wide; and consists of steeply-inclined slaty rocks covered by a few feet of sea-sand, the remains of a raised beach. The surface of the island is covered with close turf. At the north-west end of the island there formerly stood a. rude structure built of slate slabs, but no traces of it now survive. It appears to have been destroyed in the winter of 1901-2, and the site has now been denuded by the action of the weather. It was about 13 ft. long by 3 ft. wide, and roughly ellipsoidal in shape. On one side near the wall were said to be the remains of a hearth. Inside the hut were found bones of the ox, sheep, pig, rabbit, and horse; also limpet shells, ' a hand hammer made from a raised- beach pebble of hard Cataclews stone (vogesite)', and several lumps of clay.1 In the sides of the cliff, where the raised beach has been eroded by wind and rain, are large quantities of flint flakes; but it would be rash to say that they were contemporary with the formation of the raised beach. When I visited the island on 7th July 1917, I found a hammer-stone, apparently like that described above, also made from a natural beach-pebble of a hard igneous rock (fig. 2).2 As shown in the illustration the end is worn con- cave, evidently by hammering on a convex surface such as a large boulder. I suspect that mussel and limpet shells were pounded for mixing with the clay of which pots were made. If so, the 1 Harlyn Bay, pp. 52, 83, 84. 2 See Proc. Soc. Ant., xxxii, 93. ANCIENT SETTLEMENTS AT HARLYN BAY 287 name of ' potter's hut', given for no sufficient reason by the finders, has in reality some justification. A *piece of slate with a bevelled edge'r was also found in this hut and regarded, prob- ably rightly, as a potter's tool. There are the usual abundant remains of mussels and limpets everywhere on the island, also a few specimens of Purpura lapillus. In the museum at Harlyn are the remains of an iron dagger and a bronze object, both said to be from Constantine Island.